Building collapses in Poland: 5 killed, 4 injured, 1 missing

http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/2d957f6bfe2441f288678..." data-reactid="12" />Rescuers and firefighters search for 11 missing people in the rubble of an apartment house that collapsed in Swiebodzice, Poland, on Saturday, April 8, 2017. Firefighters suspect the collapse might have been caused by a gas explosion. Several people were killed and injured. (AP Photo)

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A pre-World War II apartment house collapsed Saturday in southwestern Poland, leaving five people dead, four injured and one missing, authorities said.

Scores of firefighters with dogs were searching the rubble of the building in the town of Swiebodzice (Shvyeh-'boh-tchi-tseh), according to Daniel Mucha, regional spokesman for the firefighters. He said the collapse of two floors of the three-floor building might have been caused by a gas explosion.

Regional governor Pawel Hreniak said the search-and-rescue operation was expected to continue through Sunday.

He confirmed five fatalities, including two school-age children.

Still, firefighters looking for one more missing person said there were no sounds yet coming from the building's bricks and broken wood.

Prime Minister Beata Szydlo was heading to the site, 420 kilometers (250 miles) southwest of Warsaw, to be with the victims and the rescue workers.

The governor of Swiebodzice, Bogdan Kozuchowicz, said the pre-World War II building was recently renovated and had been in good technical condition.

The injured were taken to hospitals in Swiebodzice and in Wroclaw. One survivor, identified only by her first name Stanislawa, told TVN24 that she was "miraculously saved."

"I was in the kitchen and suddenly it was dark and full of debris and some broken wooden planks," she said from her hospital bed in Swiebodzice. "I got on top of those planks and started calling 'Help! Help!' Two firefighters came and pulled me out by the arm."

She said her husband was resting on the bed at the time of the collapse.

"I don't know what has happened to him," she said, her voice trembling.

With her teenage son, also a survivor, at her side, she said the family had lost everything.

We have described a time preceding the last weeks when emergency management teams would be exhausted, turning a deaf ear in countries like the US and Britain to cries of "terrorism" and a need to install martial law. What could cause such a state, worldwide? Earthquakes have increased in frequency and strength, and accidents in the stretch zones are increasing because the plates have loosened up and are moving a greater distance during each adjustment. The recent breaks in Internet cables around the Arabian Plate are a case in point. Where earthquakes of lower magnitude are registered and often felt, when they increase in size to a magnitude 6 or 7 or greater, infrastructure is destroyed.

What will it be like when earthquakes are happening to most cities around the world, simultaneously? Stretch zones will experience even more destruction, as the infrastructure will be pulled apart. Gas mains will explode into holocausts. Travel will become impossible when roadways are torn apart or heaved up. And the increasingly volatile atmosphere, jerked about by the wobble, will make air travel treacherous. Where faltering on occasion now, satellites will falter increasingly, making communications difficult. All this leads to panic, so that distracted workers cause malfunctions in services. This can be expected before the last weeks arrive.

Flyover collapses in Cavite, no one hurt

IMUS CITY, Cavite — A portion of the Imus Flyover under construction, which spans the Daang Hari and Aguinaldo Highway just next to the Ayala District Mall here, collapsed early Sunday morning.

The Imus Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (IDRRMO) reported that no one was hurt in the incident although the collapsed beams pinned down the project contractor’s gilder beam truck, another heavy equipment and a motorcycle.

According to a witness, 51-year-old fisherman Mang Anselmo, he was driving his tricycle loaded with fish for delivery to the public market about 30 minutes past midnight of Saturday, when the beam structures of the flyover under construction collapsed.

“It was a miracle, thankfully there was a traffic enforcer who directed motorists and passersby not to cross the area, otherwise, they would have been crushed to death by the collapsing bridge and it sounded like an explosion,” Mang Anselmo said, adding that there was a commotion and people near the area were shouting.

Other witnesses said the drivers of the two trailer trucks under the flyover construction site were quick to scamper to safety as the beams gave way.

Construction workers of JBL Builders, one of the Cavite-Laguna Expressway (CALAX) contractors, told the Philippine News Agency that around 12:30 a.m. on Sunday, they were placing and lifting the portion of the beams using the crane to be connected to the supporting concrete column when the beams suddenly detached one by one and fell to the ground.

The incident also caused heavy traffic in the area as the Imus City Traffic Management Team diverted the Manila to Dasmariñas, Tagaytay, Silang, General Trias and Batangas-bound vehicles to DC Ilano Boulevard and other side streets due to the collapsed structures and concrete debris scattered all over the highway.

The Cavite police, local construction engineers, officials, and ambulances were on standby as city traffic enforcers supervised the traffic.

Meanwhile, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)-Cavite South Engineering District Engr. Sagosaya Capal said they had dispatched additional workers and brought in five girders and cranes to the site to help in the speedy relocation of the disconnected concrete parts of the highway.

He said initial findings showed that the girder truck gave way as construction workers using the crane were lifting the fifth and sixth concrete cemented portion to be connected to the flyover, thus triggering the beams to collapse.

He added that the JBL workers are now fixing the collapsed structures as bulldozers swept through the scattered concrete debris and clear the highway.

The Imus local crisis management team also assured that the contractor and DPWH teams would be able to clear the debris spilled into the highway so that the area would be passable to traffic by Monday morning.

The Imus City flyover is part of the four-lane, 45.292-kilometer Cavite-Laguna Expressway (CALAX) which spans from the CAVITEX in Kawit, Cavite to the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX)-Mamplasan Interchange in Biñan City, Laguna.

The collapse of the under-construction Varanasi flyover in Uttar Pradesh that claimed at least 18 lives on Tuesday has once again drawn the attention to the poor state of infrastructure in the country. The Varanasi tragedy is a grim reminder of other similar incidents that India witnessed in the past few years.

LUDHIANA, 2018: Gill flyover (Gill chowk) in Ludhiana collapsed last week possibly due to rats. Municipal officer Dharam Singh said, "there was a dump below the flyover due to which rats inhabited the spot. It was the rats who damaged the flyover". No casualty was reported.

WEST BENGAL, 2016: On March 31, 2016, a 150 m (490 ft) steel span of the under-construction Vivekananda flyover in the Girish Park neighborhood of Kolkata, India, collapsed. About 14 people died and more than 80 were injured in the incident.

In 2016 itself, a committee led by the then state chief secretary Basudeb Banerjee suggested a total pull-down of the flyover. The state government, still in confusion, asked a team from IIT-Kharagpur to ratify the same. Now the cost of demolition too has confounded the state government.

A source from the civil engineering department at IIT Kharagpur told Firstpost, "A state government official told us that the government is considering restoring the flyover and using it for one-way traffic. This is a construction which has zero strength left and would be unable to sustain the movement of ten vehicles at one time. The government appears to fear the prospect of spending another Rs 100 crores to demolish the flyover. But is it reason enough to endanger lives?"

Image Courtesy: PTI

According to the reports, on April 4, 2016, the police arrested four more people in connection with the Kolkata flyover collapse case.

NEW-DELHI, 2015: A portion of the Wazirabad- Janakpuri elevated corridor collapsed on to a busy road in outer Delhi's Pitampura area, damaging three parked cars and injuring two people seriously. According to the reports, preliminary investigations suggested that the straps holding the block snapped causing the corridor to fall.

SURAT, 2014: Three labourers were killed and six others injured when a portion of an under-construction flyover collapsed in Parle point area of the city, Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) Commissioner MK Das told PTI. The mishap occurred when the labourers were shifting the columns of the bridge during which a portion of the flyover fell on them, he said. The collapsed flyover was a part of the city`s cable-wire bridge connecting Parle point area to Adajan near Tapi river, Das said. The SMC has formed a committee to inquire into the collapse and an FIR has been ordered.

UTTARAKHAND, 2012: Six labourers died and 36 others were injured when an under-construction bridge collapsed at Chauraas in Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand.

SHIMLA, 2010: A year-old bridge collapsed near Shimla. No one was reported dead or injured in the incident.

BIHAR, 2009: At least six people died and 26 others were injured when an old bridge collapsed.

LUCKNOW, 2008: At least five people were killed and 25 injured when an under-construction flyover at the Faizabad and Lucknow corridor collapsed.

HYDERABAD, 2007: At least 15 people died and 20 others were injured after a portion of the flyover which was under construction at Panjagutta, in the busy corridor connecting Begumpet to the upscale of the Banjara Hills, collapsed.

Varanasi: An under construction flyover near the Cantonment railway station here collapsed killing 1...

People at the scene said a stream was running on top of the bridge until the creek breached early this morning.

A dam of debris in the creek behind Peachcliff Estates is what is sending water through a bordering winery and onto 14th Avenue. Work is being done on that property to build up a wall of gravel to keep the water flowing along the creek.

However, residents feared that if the breach is plugged before the failed bridge is removed, higher water flow along the creek blocked by the bridge could send more water onto 14th Avenue.

Recovery works underway following tunnel collapses at Ituango.

8 May 2018

There has been a total blockage of the diversion tunnel at the 2400MW Ituango hydroelectric project in Colombia, EPM has confirmed, with the utility and contracted firms working on recovery efforts to allow controlled discharge of water.

EPM said that contingency plans had been activated following an initial tunnel collapse caused by a landslide in late April, which was followed by another collapse on May 7 at the project, which is currently under construction.

The incident has led to a reduction in the flow of the Cauca River downstream, and impoundment upstream.

In a statement, EPM said that teams of specialists from EPM and national and international experts from contracting firms are implementing various technical solutions to evacuate the water and restore the normal flow of the river. Both DAPARD (Administrative Department of the System of Prevention, Care and Disaster Recovery of the Government of Antioquia) and the Red Cross are present in the project area.

Recovery work, which could include reopening older tunnels, is expected to take several days.

4 injured in iron bridge collapse

May 6, 2018

Banihal, May 06

Four persons were injured when an iron bridge collapsed in Ramban district today, officials said.Two trucks loaded with construction material for an under-construction tunnel were crossing the 300-meter bridge over NallahBishlari in Ramsoo area when it collapsed, resulting in injuries to both driver and conductor, the officials said.The injured were rushed to nearby hospital and their condition was stated to be “stable”, the officials said.The bridge was laid by IRCON some four years back on the approach road leading to the 13.5 km under-construction railway tunnel, which will be the longest in the country after completion, between Khari and Sumber in Ramban district.

3-yr-old bridge collapses in Odisha’s Ganjam; vehicular movement hit

Berhampur: A bridge over Ambakhala nullah near Buguda in Odisha’s Ganjam district, which was constructed mere three years ago, collapsed last night.

Vehicular movement between Berhampur and Nayagarh via Buguda has been severely affected following the incident. Hundreds of vehicles remained stranded on both sides of the road.

According to reports, the bridge caved in about 15-feet deep after rainfall in the area last night. Fortunately, there was no movement of vehicles during the collapse. No casualties have been reported in the mishap.

Dispatchers say it happened just before 10:00 a.m. on property on State Highway FF near Saddleclub Road.

The Logan Rogersville Fire Protection District posted on its Facebook page that one person has died.

Assistant LR Fire Chief Rob Talburt says 6 people were working on the tower, performing "routine maintenance", and were about 105 feet in the air at the time of collapse.

Webster County Sheriff Roye Cole says the man who died was among those on the tower at the time.

In addition to the one death, three other people were transported to area hospitals to be checked, but the injuries were not life-threatening. "We're very lucky we didn't have any other deaths," Talburt said.

Talburt says the tower is owned by KOZK, the PBS station operated by Missouri State University.

One of the services using the downed tower is the NOAA weather radio system by the National Weather Service. The NWS posted:

he NOAA weather radio at Fordland (162.400mhz) is off the air until further notice. Please look for another frequency on your weather radio until Fordland is back on the air. If you are still unable to tune into another frequency, please use our web site (www.weather.gov/sgf/), local TV, wireless emergency alerts on your cell phone or other means to get the latest forecast.

The Webster County Sheriff's office is handling the investigation into the collapse, Talburt said.

Two killed in East Java bridge collapse

A crowd of onlookers gathered at the scene after a bridge connecting Lamongan and Tuban in Indonesia's East Java province collapsed and fell into the Bengawan Solo River yesterday. Three trucks and a motorcycle plunged into the water, and two truck drivers died in the incident.

TEMPO.CO, Surabaya - The twin bridge that connects Widang, Tuban and Babat sub-districts of Lamongan, East Java, collapsed on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, causing two fatalities.

Head of Public Relations Division of the East Java Police Frans Barung Mangera, confirmed the bridge, which is located along the national road and crosses the Bengawan Solo has collapsed at around 11:00 AM.

"At around 11:00 AM the twin bridges on the west side of Widang Tuban sub-districts suddenly collapsed causing one dump truck, two trailer trucks, and one motorcycle to plunge into the river," Barung said on Tuesday afternoon, April 17, 2018.

The collapse of the Widang-Babat Bridge, which is located not far from the Lagitan Islamic Boarding School had caused traffic congestion.

Ng’ona bridge washed away following heavy rains

Ng’ona River Bridge in Kawambwa district has been washed away following heavy rains being experienced in the area.

The District has since been cut off from being accessed from Mwansabombwe and Nchelenge Districts.

Kawambwa District Council Chairperson Kalumba Chifumbe told ZANIS in Mansa yesterday that the bridge which is on the Kawambwa – Mbereshi road was swept away yesterday morning due to flooding leaving motorists and other road users stranded.

Mr. Chifumbe said the bridge which was constructed in the early 1980s collapsed due to heavy downpours that have been experienced in the area and lack of periodic maintenance.

He said the bridge could not withstand the amount of water pressure which passed through the culverts leading to its collapse and subsequent washing away.

Mr. Chifumbe has however called on the people of Kawambwa not to panic as the district can also be accessed using the newly constructed Kawambwa – Mushota – Luwingu road and the old Mansa – Mung’anga – Kawambwa road.

He has advised people travelling from outside the district using both public and private transport to use the said roads.

Mr. Chifumbe said the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure Development has assured him that engineers will be moving in to put temporal measures to make the road passable.

And Infrastructure Development Minister Ronald Chitotela has revealed that engineers from the Road Development Agency Luapula regional office have been dispatched to check the washed away Ng’ona River Bridge.

Mr Chitotela said Kawambwa like other parts of Luapula Province has been experiencing heavy downpours leading to the swelling of many rivers due to flooding.

He explained that the corroded culverts under the bridge could not withstand the huge of volume of water violently passing through them.

“I wish to appeal to our people not to panic as government is doing everything possible to replace the washed away bridge. As you may know, the Ng’ona river bridge connects Kawambwa to Nchelenge and Mwansabombwe districts; so it’s an important bridge,” Mr Chitotela said.

He said government is looking at possibilities of using berry bridges as a temporal measure to allow traffic and movement of people to resume.

Mr Chitotela however said people wishing to travel to Kawambwa should use either the Kawambwa – Luwingu – Mushota Road (from Mansa) or the Nchelenge – Kampampi – Mulwe Road (from Mwansabombwe or Nchelenge).

“We are working hard to ensure that we restore the damaged infrastructure in the quickest possible time,” he said.

West Bengal: Old bridge over river Kana Damodar collapses in Howrah, no casualties

Kolkata, Apr 10 (IBNS): A decade-old bridge over river Kana Damodar fell down at Khanrapara village under Jagatballavpur Police Station limits in West Bengal's Howrah district on Tuesday early morning, reports said.

According to reports, the 100-foot-long and 15-foot-wide concrete bridge, which was a direct link between Khanrapara and Goalpota, abruptly collapsed at around 6:10 am.

A local police official told IBNS that no casualty was reported in the incident as the bridge was empty that time.

Locals alleged that the structure became ramshackle as no maintenance work was done at the bridge for a long time.

"Over 1000 people of nearby villages have been affected after the bridge collapse. We are demanding a new bridge at the same location," a local villager told IBNS.

However, a state administrative official told IBNS that local authorities are looking into the matter.